I have no idea how many times I've flown over this spot. It's on a major jetway from SoCal to the east, so I'm constantly criss crossing the skies above it. Each and every time I'm pissed off thinking about all you photographers down there grabbing the good light. If I'm having a lucky day I'll create a big nasty contrail for you. I always try to time my bathroom breaks such that I'm doing work right as we cross over the Kofa range so I can try to drop a big chunk of blue ice on your asses.. Then I went to visit the Kofa's for myself and I couldn't BELIEVE that they didn't shut down air traffic over the region for me. The nerve! So we had a sunrise with nothing but HELLA nasty contrails. I finally just gave up, stacked as many ND's as I could on lens, and went for a several minute exposure just as the sun was rising. I would like to say that I had carefully planned this composition and was sitting on it waiting for the light, but I was running around this region like an absolute butthead trying to find something cohesive. I was running out of time, so this is where my tripod ended up. Fast forward to the evening. After a long day of scouting and picking cholla quills out of Breezy's ass (see other story on Medusa), the light started to fade and a gorgeous sunset ensued. As is typical, it was happening in ALL the wrong directions. So there I go again, running around like crazy trying to come up with something facing the best light. If waddling was a sport I would be an Olympic athlete. I waddled over hill and dale, through cactus, over cactus, through brush so thick I couldn't see my shoes. Waddled up hills, down hills, around the back of this mountain range, up one side and down the other. I probably did 3-4 miles of random criss crossing waddling during the golden hour and twilight. As is typical, I came home with nothing for the effort. Except for a MAJOR problem. I got ready to hoof it back to the rental car so reached into my camera bag to grab the keys.... which were not where I usually leave them. Huh. I must have put them in my pocket? Nope. Despite the desert cold starting to settle over the evening, I noticed a small bead of sweat on my forehead. I turned on my flashlight and started to methodically rip my bag apart. I'm trained to handle emergency and crisis, so naturally I had crap flying everywhere as absolute panic set in. No matter how you sliced it, the keys were gone. They were not in my bag, and they were not in any of my pockets. I swept my flashlight around the landscape and realized that they must have fallen out somewhere in my mad waddling. If you've been to this region, you know that it's an absolute MESS of cactus, brush, rocks, holes, hills, pits, and washes. And I had run across ALL of it. What was going to happen next began to work its way into my mind. We were probably 10 miles from a main road, and getting to this area is no picnic. I had no cell service. It was getting cold and my coat was locked safely in the car. NOBODY comes up here. Oh, and I had rented the car in San Diego, 4+ hours away. I could imagine that the only people who were going to be less happy about this than me were the folks at Budget. I had absolutely no idea what to do. I was now fully sweating, but I figured I had better save my strength for the 10 mile hike back to the road in the middle of the night that I was looking at having to make with no food and very limited water. Then it got worse. Much MUCH worse. It's one thing when your bone headedness screws up your day. It's another thing entirely when your bone headedness screws up someone ELSE's day. I was going to have to tell Breezy that the next 24 hours was going to go VERY differently than planned. We had bonded over the cactus in ass situation, and I felt closer to him than every before, which was just going to make my confession harder. After a mile hike I found him, happily shooting stars over the mountain range not far from where this image was made. "You get that light, Son??!!" He asked. I felt the sick rise up in my stomach. He was so free and gleeful, blissfully unaware of the horrific fate which I was about to bestow upon him. I could barely get the words out. "We are totally Effed, Son. I don't know what to tell you. I'm just sick". "What happened?" he asked. How could he be so calm? Oh yeah, because he thinks my memory card is full or something stupid. Not that we are about to become snake and coyote food. "Dude. Just.... Dude. I lost the keys. They fell out of my pocket somewhere out there" I swept my arm across the landscape for dramatic effect. "What?" He asked. Clearly he was in shock. "Dude, you gave me the keys like 3 hours ago when I went to put my hoodie back in the car." *Blink. Blink.* "Oh yeah........"
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